


~*FIRE & ICE*~

by PhoenixFire_theWizardGoddess



Category: Children of Earth - Fandom, Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe, Day 4, F/M, Harkness being Harkness... Amy joining in, Improved version from the original Tumblr post, M/M, Multi, Random Shipping Insinuations, how it should have ended
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-09
Updated: 2014-01-09
Packaged: 2018-01-08 03:09:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1127645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixFire_theWizardGoddess/pseuds/PhoenixFire_theWizardGoddess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[AU Crossover] Children of Earth, Day 4... Ianto and Jack are dying, all hope seems lost... the 456 have won once more.</p><p>That is, until a certain Time Lord literally kicks down the door and turns the tides, by turning centuries of wrath upon the hapless child-stealing creature(s) writhing about within the chamber before them all...</p><p>""This planet, and these people, mean a lot to me… and you have come here, demanded the lives of millions of children, and THEN… you kill someone I care about. Well let me tell you, creature 47 and a half you great oozing space-pustule, that I have destroyed entire worlds and races for far, far less than that… and I intend to show you why children on other worlds are taught to fear the man in the blue box!" he screamed, slamming a fist on the case, glass cracking slightly under the superhuman pressure."</p>
            </blockquote>





	~*FIRE & ICE*~

**Author's Note:**

> Day 4 really messed me up, I couldn't believe what had happened...
> 
> Therefore, I wrote my OWN version.

 

As Jack and Ianto are dying, the Doctor breaks open the large cast-iron doors sealing them in with a flourish of his sonic, and a rather impressive kick (if he did say so himself)… but no time for that, now. 

Instinctually leaving Jack to revive whenever he feels like, the Doctor frantically checks the human lying on the floor beside the Captain. The pulse is very weak, almost undetectable but there… the poison hasn’t killed him yet. Yet, of course, being the operative word, unfortunately...  
His skin is pale, clammy, growing colder by the second; it grips his hearts like an iron fist that Jack is about to lose Ianto, in the same way he'd lost Rose a regeneration ago, like the universe was determined to make certain that neither of them were destined to know happiness in any form for as long as their near-immortal lives would last.

.

"Vent the chamber!" he screams to those listening through the cameras, flailing his sonic all about the room in an attempt to do it anyway… wondering why no one reacted to the fact he's practically blown the doors off anyway. Though as of yet, no guards or armed soldiers had rushed on in, but perhaps they feared potential death at the invisible hands of the toxin pumping through the room?

Though a small part of his ancient mind whispers that even if, right this second, the air cleared... it would do nothing; yet another part, another part of his 'self' from a time long passed, was whispering equally as loudly that there was a chance. That he could do something here to save an important life... and it WAS important.

  
He knows how much Ianto means to Jack, knows intrinsically what would happen throughout the universe and all of space-time if he changes this very moment, and he doesn't CARE.

Well, in truth he does... but potential ramifications aside, he just wants to see one of his oldest allies happy again; and he had met Ianto more than once during this crises or that, lovely lad, made brilliant tea even if this particular regeneration wasn't so fond of it. Actually, he also made the nicest fish-finger and custard sandwiches the Doctor had ever had the last time he'd visited TORCHWOOD when Jack was off running about Cardiff doing who-knows-what... very polite and accomodating, the world couldn't afford to lose someone like that. So the Doctor resorts to doing something rather drastic.

.

His eyes glow with an unnatural golden sheen that seems to curl outwards, all visible skin pulses faintly with a brilliant luminescence that is as painful to stare directly at as the sun; the breath he draws is visible between his parted lips, visible and pulsating, with an unearthly shining light of indescribable golden quality…   
It dances this way and that, sparking out in tendrils before drawing in close, like a living being of indescribable form, tethered to the Doctor himself.

Pressing them against unresponsive, cooling lips, the Doctor forces Ianto’s mouth open and pours life -his golden eternal lifeforce- into the younger human; a far more effective technique than even that practiced by the most proficient professionals at Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

.

The Doctor holds the younger man down carefully as pale suit-clad limbs jerk and spasm against the invading golden light that was filling up his every pore, every breath and vein... fighting against the toxins lacing his system. Eventually sighing and pinning him close by wrapping arms around the trembling body, holding the far-too-young man close tenderly as he could; he'd seen so many people he cared about die young, and still he lived on... it was a burden that ached almost constantly even after all these years, all this practice.

It takes a long, long time… probably only a few moments, but with the frantic tempo of his heartbeats pounding within his ears, the Doctor feels as if an eternity has passed. If you asked his current companions, who had witnessed him on the Wii, then you would know that he was not particularly brilliant at 'waiting' - the very idea of allowing time to continue to pass in slow, measured seconds when something inportant was occurring now, then, or soon, was almost laughable to the Time Lord.  
  
But he remained still, waiting, just this once... because he had to know if it had worked.

The urge to shake Ianto is there, just under the surface of his self-control… a writhing thing born of desperation, but it stills as thoughts flood in like a series of emotionally-driven tidal waves.

.

' _Why won’t the human move_?' 

' _Did he do something wrong_?'

' _Was his greatest gift useless in the face of whatever concoction was killing the pair_?'

So many worries, questions and doubts gnawed at his insides, hearts and mind; but he quashed them as best he could, unconsciously jiggling his sonic screwdriver about with a hand. The other fisted in the soft material of the human's suit jacket, just waiting.

.

Eyes flicker left and right, searching the disappointingly slack features of the young man’s face for some sign of life in something akin to desperation. ‘ _Come on, Ianto, come on… please… you can do it… come out of there and speak to me… come on… Wake up._ ’

Nothing.

.

A shudder wracks through the Gallifreyan's deceptively lanky frame as the last of the golden glow diminishes beneath the young man’s skin, fading back to that awful pallor of death once more… Why did it seem that he was always a second too late to save anyone precious to him?

Laying Ianto’s body on the floor, the Doctor stood with a look of pure, dispassionate hatred, written all over his face and utterly GLARING at the alien ensconced within the glass case of extraterrestrial fog.

"Do you know what you have done?" he asked the creature, the 456 as they’d named it; something large, tentacled and oozing flailed behind the glass. "Do you have _ANY_ idea what you’ve done you gigantic ball of slime?" This time it seemed more of a growl.

" _This_ _planet_ , and _these people_ , mean a lot to me… and you have come here, demanded the lives of millions of children, and _THEN_ … you kill someone I care about. Well let me tell you, creature 47 and a half you great oozing space-pustule, that I have destroyed _entire worlds_ and races for far, far less than that… and I intend to show you why children on other worlds are taught to _fear_ **_the man in the blue box_**!" he screamed, slamming a fist on the case, glass cracking slightly under the superhuman pressure.

.

“ **You Would Not Dare… I Can Destroy This World, Alien Traveller.** " the alien echoed through the medium of the billion odd children it had under its sway.

"Oh… _wouldn’t I_?" he hissed back, fists clenching, "Then obviously, you don't know who I am… _do you, ugly_?"

There was a momentary silence as it seemed to think, if that is what the process could be called for it’s race.

“ **You Are…The Doctor…** " it said after the interim,  multitudinous voices faltering slightly with something that approximated fear…

He smiled, so it DID know who he was…

.

"You are going to get _the HELL_ off this planet, and return those children you’ve taken, no matter what state they are in… and then, AND THEN you are then to get out of this galaxy...  _never return_ and just PRAY that we never cross paths again. **_DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME_**?!" he yelled, the prickling at the back of his neck told him Jack was already reviving and his hearts were aching; but he was fire, and ice, and rage.

And by the High Priests of Gallifrey was he _ANGRY_.

Children… it wanted children, human children. And what was worse… the humans had GIVEN them to it, long ago… not knowing how or why they would be used, they just DID IT to make the threat go away. Cowards were in charge of this brilliant, clever race… occasionally it made him sick, and then he met one or two extraordinary individuals on his travels - _quite by accident_ \- and they made up for it. Made him love this world like his own, a second home that he would not STAND to have destroyed.

…the Atraxi had _run_ from him. Angels _blinked_ in his presence. Daleks and Cybermen alike _feared_ for their lives, despite having no emotions…

They knew not to harm his companions, not to threaten Earth, they knew what would happen… and yet some arrogant young  _Craytaks_  decide to stop off at Earth -a planet _HE protected_ \- just to try and catch a buzz off the youngest inhabitents.

.

No, they would not get away with this. Not by a long shot… this was _war_ right here.

.

Jack’s gasp echoed through the chamber and broke into a heart-wrenching sob, it filled up all the spaces in the Doctor that normally contained empathy for alien life; he lowered the sonic screwdriver in it’s direction. 

"You will fix what you have done, right now, and then you will leave. Leave and never come back if you know what’s good for you… Got it? I’ll give you to the count of t-… _Eleven_." His voice stumbled the once, but the 456 - _the Craytak_ \- flailed and sent out a high pitched wail through several billion voices; it’s tentacles slammed the sides off the glass box.

.

" **Eleven…** "

The glass cracks further, he glares in determinedly.

.

" **Ten…** "

His voice is steady and full of anger…

.

" **NINE…** "

The sob behind him breaks off worryingly.

.

" **Eight…** "

He dare not turn around, the creature flails.

.

" **Seven…** "

His sonic screwdriver flashes for a mere second and the 456 howls in agony.

.

" **SIX…** "

Jack is calling for him… no time, no time for that…

.

" **FIVE…** "

The mist is receding, figures of dessicated corpses appear, the Doctor feels ill…

.

" **FOUR…** "

His horror increases as he realises some are still alive…

.

" **THREE** , you _murdering bastards_…"

A child turns it’s head slowly to look at him with glazed over eyes, not truly seeing… his hearts twinge.

.

“ _ **TWO** …_ I’d hurry if I were you, or I will  _tear you limb from slimy limb_  for what you have done…”

The tubes connecting the child and monster fall slack, the little girl breathes a sigh of relief and her sunken eyes close; body lolling against the restraints. His hands are shaking, she is gone… but she was free… her eyes said _thank you_ …

.

He swears in Gallifreyan, prepared to do his worst…

" _ **O-…**_ "

.

“ **Very Well Doctor, We Shall Abide By Your Ruling. Spare Our Lives… We Beg Of You… The Antidote To Our Poison Has Been Uploaded To The Personal Devices Of Your Military Bases. We Shall Leave**." It responded over his own voice, forestalling the last numeral of the countdown, as a chorus of beeping from all over the base signified a mass-upload had occurred. 

"Now leave. Leave and _never_ come back…" he says in that terrifyingly calm voice that halts Daleks and makes entire fleets turn around and head home. The Doctor steps back, away from the chamber in a slow measured manner, as a transporter beam breaks through to whisk the creature away.

.

It is Gone.

It is done… the children are safe… 

He feels like sinking to the ground on his knees and sobbing for the ones he couldn’t save until Amy and Rory -his glorious Ponds- find their way here to comfort him, but he can’t do that… not now, it wouldn’t be fair… he had to help-…

.

Medical staff and military personnel flooded the room, diverging about the huddled figures of Jack and Ianto on the floor; he briefly feels a hand on his shoulder, a voice asking if he is alright but he waves them off with a mutter about ‘ _finding his ponds_ ’.

Someone speaks into a shoulder-mounted radio, but he fobs it off and rises, turning slowly to see Jack gazing at him with a look fuelled by an emotion he cannot yet guess at; perhaps it is merely because the 51st century captain has yet to recognise the face he wears now. It is a bit of an adjustment, a new regeneration, a new face… 

"D-Doctor…? That’s a new look for you, isn’t it?" the man half-laughs, tears marring the mirthful sound that did not reach those beautiful blue eyes, the ones piercing him right this very instance far better than any weapon ever invented; but there is no hatred, no blame… that _IS_ odd.

.

Kneeling, the Time Lord feels suddenly very awkward. “So, uh, I just…” he sighs, “Look Jack I am SO sorry about this, truly I am… The poison had spread so far and I tried to use my-… I TRIED Jack, I really tried, but I failed _again_.” His voice was nothing more than a hoarse whisper at the end of his sentence, the weight of all those he had failed were crushing the breathe right out of the 900+ Gallifreyan.

He was SO TIRED of losing people he cared about…

.

"Hey Doc, I couldn’t blame you if I wanted to… you tried, and that’s what matters…" Jack smiled, sliding into a sitting position and cradling Ianto in his arms, "…especially when it works." 

The Doctor nearly regenerated, “ _WHAT_? He’s _ALIVE_?!”

Ianto groaned and turned away from the loud shrieking noise, hiding his face in the dirty blue of Jack’s torn shirt -one that had seen better days apparently, if the Doctor was seeing correctly. “Ugh… Jack, make him stop…” mumbled the soft, accented voice of a certain Welshman.

.

Jack was laughing, Ianto peered out at them a little too quickly and unintentionally rolled over, falling into the space between the two men with an ‘Oof!’

The Doctor filled his vision by neglecting the ‘personal space’ rule humans were so fond of and, leaning in quite close, searching the younger man's face with delighted scrutiny.  
“You’re alive!” he crowed, utterly delighted and beaming like an excited child; hands pinched, pulled and moved over the flesh of Ianto's face. It was like being mobbed by a swarm of affectionate great aunties, but much worse… his cheeks were stinging.

He must have said so aloud, because the Doctor laughed and responded, “I’m the Doctor, I’m worse than _everybody’s_ Aunt…’

.

"I could feel it, you know… the light… coursing all through me, it was fantastic and terrifying at the same time, what was that, anyway?" Ianto asked, glancing at his limbs in surprise at still being alive.

"Oh, er, I may or may not have used a little bit of my regeneration energy to chase the poison out… luckily it didn’t cause a human-timelord meta-crisis or I’d have to wipe out your memories of me to save you. However, if you did feel more than the occasional pinch or stabbing pain, I apologise… regeneration isn’t pleasant at the best of times… when you compact a fraction of it and shove it into someone else it tends to feel a bit like electricity in the veins. Or so I’m told…" the Doctor responded, staring right into the man’s eyes again, first the right, then the left and twice more, like he was looking for something. 

The alien beamed, “Nope, you’re clean. Nothing left… no need for the song and dance routine of a memory wipe… now Jack, he’s going to be a bit fragile for the next twenty-four hours or so, kind of a side effect of having your all your essential atoms partially-regenerated… so _try not to break him_.” The stern glare conveyed what he was actually talking about, much to Jack’s amusement.

The Captain raised both hands high in surrender, “FINE! I promise not to do anything too rough, besides…” he threw in, catching the Doctor’s pure glare, “…can’t go wasting the precious energy you expended to give me back my Ianto. But perhaps I could… thank you for returning him to me, while he rests…” Jack gave a sly wink at the Alien who rolled his eyes while Ianto groaned.

.

"Jack, grow up… and help me _GET_ up, I’m sick of this floor… it reminds me of dying." No sooner had the man said it, than Jack was already sweeping him up in a bridal style lift and standing, something Ianto obviously secretly enjoyed but was loudly protesting given how many strangers were milling about and throwing dark glances in their directions -more likely at the theatrics, than their obvious relationship but Jack was secretly a Drama Queen.

" _Let me go, Jack_!" Ianto shouted, wiggling about like an eel on sand as the other held firm.

He froze completely as the immortal man whispered, " _Never again…_ " hotly in his ear, and then they were kissing, regardless of onlookers or uncomfortable alien timelords.

.

The Doctor bobbed around the pair, “ _Aaaand_ break! _Breathe_! Come on you two, break apart and _breathe_ already! What is _WITH_ you humans and _KISSING_?” he bumbled on for a few more seconds, actively looking about for a distraction while waiting to be spoken to again, but finding nothing to do in the flurry of activity.

.

 “ ** _DOCTOR_**!”

A loud cry rent the air from a familiar redhead, echoed by the sandy-haired man running beside her.

" _ **PONDS**_! _My_ Ponds! There you are! I was wondering where you went, but things got all _tension-y-wensiony_ and angry, so I had to come here and save-… well, as you can see Ianto’s fine and so are the children of Earth. Near miss though, if the Crayteks had gotten any more of them-…" 

Amy grabbed the front of his jacket and shook him, “You’re not making any sense, Raggedy Man!”

He paused mid-ramble, “Am I not? Oh, well you see the psionic subspace signals the TARDIS was reading from the creatures we were tracking -called the  _Craytek_ , by the way- were converging on this building, thought I’d pop in and have a little look around while you were-… hang on, what _WERE_ you two doing?” he questioned, throwing his companions and part-time lovers a quizzical glance.

"Oh, you know, kicking down doors and threatening armed military forces with nothing but a _sword_ , a _gun_ and _half an idea_ …" Rory shrugged, waving said metallic weaponry about to the amused glance of an interested Jack Harkness.

Amy cut in, “We were trying to stop them from getting the children on the buses, but when that failed… we may or may not have asked the TARDIS to drop us into the secret meeting of the British Government so we could have a word. Didn’t maybe wonder why the little people watching through the cameras were suddenly so silent?” she asked. “No? Well it turns out they’re a bit less bold with the whole ‘ _hand kids over to aliens_ ’ plan when there’s a weapon pointed at them.”

.

"But… how did you get in, didn’t the guards stop you? And-… wait, hang on, how did you get the TARDIS to take you there, she only responds to me… you have to be a Time Lord to fly a TARDIS, I know, _I’ve checked_ …" he pouted adorably.

She slunk over, the material of her police woman’s uniform crinkled as she stood on her tippy-toes to whisper in his ear audibly to the others, “Oh, turns out you can fly the TARDIS… but only if you have _a little Gallifreyan in you_ …” she winked, Rory rolled his eyes.

.

" _Ironically_ , it’s not as hard as you always make it seem, driving the box." he shrugged.

Amy smirked, "You're only saying that because she made it easy for her ' _Pretty One_ '." tone, not in the least bit jealous, she really did get a a kick out of reminding Rory that the TARDIS had a sort-of thing for him...

Her wink, however, was ludicrously over-dramatic for the scenario, and Rory rolled his eyes before continuing, "Fun, though… you should let us do it more often, right after you tell us where the hell the washing room is! The TARDIS stole our clothes last night to clean them, I think… so we had to use these instead, because despite all our searching we still can’t find where she put them." He gestured at the Centurion outfit he wore.

.

"Hey, that looks authentic…" Jack said, wiggling one of his hands out from under Ianto's knees ( _providing the other man the opportunity to stand on his own finally_ ) to prod at Rory’s chestplate, and seeming to listen intently to the ring of metal in response. "Yep, definitely real, where’d you get it? Nick it off a centurion during an escapade with the Doctor, or am I addressing an actual centurion here, because you look familiar…?"

Ianto made a small noise in the back of his throat, followed by a glare; Jack smiled sheepishly and put him down. “This is, er, my better half… no? Better _two-thirds_ , Ianto Jones, he works at the TORCHWOOD institute with me… and you lovely people are?”

.

Amy had her mouth open to speak, but the Doctor’s voice cut over them distractedly, “Yes, yes, Amy Pond… meet Captain Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones, she was a rather well-dressed Kissogram at one point but so much more now. The pair of you, meet Rory Pond, also once Centurion Roranicus Williams in the Roman legions before the world exploded… but he’ll tell you he’s ‘ _just a nurse_ ’. Now that we have introductions out of the way, I believe you owe me an explanation… but that can wait…” he started fiddling with setting on the sonic screwdriver, voice fading as he became absorbed by his task.

"Amy and Rory Pond? Well hello there... do you share?" he ribbed the Doctor, who paused what he was doing to glare up at the immortal with a stare that could have pinned him to the opposite wall.

" _Oi, stop it you…_ " the Doctor responded automatically before returning to his task and freezing as the reality struck him, "Oh… sorry, but no, they are mine, my Ponds, hands off… do you really want me to start touching your stuff…?" He looked at Ianto meaningfully.

Jack actually appeared excited by that idea. 

 

"Actually, on second thoughts, _forget_ that idea… but hands off. Now… you two broke into a top-secret government meeting and somehow blackmailed the politics to do… _what_ exactly? Not interfere?" The Doctor asked, interested. Amy responded, "Well, actually, we sort of…"

"… _suggested_ ,” interjected Rory, “that they let all the children go, or we’d blow the place up… using this.” He unhooked a small cylindrical device from his belt and tossed it to the Doctor, who took one look and practically fell over as he started to laugh heartily. Wheezing too hard to explain, he allowed Jack to take the metallic object from his hands; Ianto was looking at it with confusion, Amy was smirking and Rory was merely watching Jack flip the blinking object over and over trying to figure out what it was.

"If I’m not mistaken," came the eloquent tones of Ianto, "THAT is nothing more than a children’s nursery hologram generator from Tarxis III… how on Earth did you manage to blackmail a government with nothing more than a sophisticated light-up music box?"

.

"Easy," Amy responded brightly, "We just didn’t tell them what it was… looks alien, could be a bomb… and when there’s a crazy pair of people waving weapons in your face and shouting, you generally believe them when they says it’s explosive."

Rory shrugged, “It’s a _small flashy-lighty thingy that goes beep when there’s stuff_ , naturally they assumed the worst. Jack… if you have a question, ask it, stop poking my armour… come to think of it, you DO look familiar. I think I killed you once…”

Ianto froze, eyes flicking to Jack. “Actually, yeah, probably, I got stuck in Ancient Rome once… got drunk and woke up in the Legions of some crazy guy who wanted a lot of people dead, died a few times in that era, actually. No big deal.” He clapped his hands together, before placing an arm over Ianto’s shoulders and drawing the other in close, “Now, we’ve managed to save the world, but I’m thinking that perhaps we could go have a nice long rest in the TARDIS before trying to fix the mess the world’s governments have made. Am I right?”

"Well, some of us DID die today, and will expire again if they don’t get a nice cup of tea…" Ianto threatened darkly, with a glance at the Captain; whose face underwent the startling metamorphosis from smiling, to horrified and concerned, then back to beaming. Out of nowhere, Jack swooped in and kissed him again, much to the exasperation of a certain time lord…

.

"Oi, enough you two… please… can’t we go and do this in the TARDIS like civilised peop-… _That is not what I meant and you know it, Jack_ … Jack, No. _Stop it Jack_ , you stay _**right ther-**_ … Amy, Rory, _Help Me_!" The Doctor yelled over his shoulder as he started to run in the fashion of a rather drunken giraffe with the Captain casually jogging close behind, laughing the whole way, to the multitude of startled and disgruntled stares of those about them.

Amy was the first to crack, laughing loudly as she reached out to snag both Rory and Ianto’s arms before starting to run, urging the pair into an - _awkward at first_ \- run beside her. “Come on _my boys_ , cant let them get too far ahead, never know what’s explosive around here that they might stumble onto…”

"We’re not your-…" Ianto started, but Rory gave him this look over the flailing red locks of Amy’s hair.

" _Yeah we are_ … might as well accept it." They ran down a series of corridors unimpeded by personnel, doors magically open (or more likely flung open by the quarry they chased at that particular moment) and allowing them to run right out into the streets.

.

A few right turns and one dead end later, Rory tugged Amy’s arm by a narrow alleyway; she also halted Ianto. The Torchwood operative had had quite a day by this point...

 _Dead, then alive, crazy aliens and companions, now running through the streets looking for_ … what exactly? Oh…

.

His mind tried to reconcile the fact there was a 1950’s blue Police Box just SITTING THERE at the end of the alley as Rory said, “Oh, so _THAT’s_ where we parked it…”

The man in the roman armour turned to him, “Er…Ever been inside the TARDIS before, Ianto…? No? I should warn you… _Ow_!”

Amy punched him on the arm, “Don’t ruin it for him! And anyway, the Doctor kind of likes that bit… you spoiled it for him by being… well, _you_.”

.

They neared the door, both of the companions reaching for their keys until it was revealed the door was open a fraction anyway; and so, Amy slipped in first, followed by Rory… and lastly, Ianto. Who stood upon the threshold and gazed about with wonder, “Wow, it’s… it’s… bigger on the inside… _and a complete health and safety hazard_!”

"He did it, he did it! I love it when they do that!" crowed the Doctor, popping up from behind the main console Jack was casually leaning against.

The other man laughed, walking down to take Ianto’s face in his hands, "Oh my crazy posh Ianto, always thinking so pessimistically… the hazard is half the fun… hey Doc, we got time to take a trip to another world before we clean up this mess on Earth?" he called over his shoulder.

"Hmmm? Oh, yes, certainly! Where to go, where to go… Doesn’t matter. Alright, everyone line up around the console, grab onto something  and shut your eyes, we’ll just go wherever and whenever the TARDIS decides. Like a _Blind Date with Destiny_! How about that?" the Doctor beamed.

.

Amy and Rory dashed up to the circular console with obvious excitement, shutting their eyes and reaching out for something, anything within reach. Jack walked to the opposite side of the console and grabbed something with both eyes shut, before opening them a fraction to glance at Ianto and jerking his head to indicate the gorgeous welshman should come and join him.

"Ah, Ianto, nothing to worry about, bigger on the inside… I’m sure Jack or Rory will explain it to you while we’re in transit, it’s kind of like an alternate dimension - _well no, an extra one left over from who knows what_ \- stuff inside this little box. But the dimension touches all points of time and space, past and present, future and before and after time exists… Brilliant, yes? Anyway, you just come up here," Ianto was aware that he was being bodily maneuvered up a flight of stairs to the console, "and put your hands on there… that’s right."

"Now, shut your eyes and grab something… and if Jack so much as THINKS about adding ‘ _that’s what he or she said_ ’ to the end of that sentence, I will _shove him out an airlock_." The barb was as deadly as it was pointed… Jack held his tongue as Ianto shut his eyes and stretched out a hand, feeling for something, then drew back suddenly.

"Something wrong, Ianto…?" asked the Doctor by his ear as he opened his eyes and turned around to face the alien.

"Er, didn’t you say this only worked for Time Lords or people who are… part-Gallifreyan…? I don’t think I’ll be much use, honestly… How about you play with the controls and I’ll watch…?" he compromised.

The Doctor threw a warning glance at Jack, whose mouth _WAS_ open, but had yet to issue forth the innuendo he was visibly fighting back down. 

.

"Oh Ianto, wonderful Ianto… _putter-upper-er of Jack Harkness for all these years_ , you are wonderfully and totally correct AND wrong at the same time! You see, humans can use the TARDIS at the same time as a Gallifreyan or… someone with Gallifreyan DNA in them, there was this one time when I had over half a dozen humans plus three timelords flying the old girl… Ah, that was a good day…" he blinked back from distant memories, "Ah, in anycase, perfectly operational if you want to get involved. Don't have to but, heh, it’s fun…"

Ianto slowly spun back, shut his eyes and reached out again, fingers finding something that very much felt like the pull-tab dialing system on old phones… A body pressed flush against his own, “You may not have any Time Lord in you, Ianto, but maybe…when we stop… I could put a little Gallifreyan in you too, if you want…” a deep, breathy voice whispered.

A smile quirked his lips, “I think I’d like that, Sir…”

.

He could almost imagine the look on Jack's face as he said it… then the Doctor was gone, whirling away like a storm-tossed leaf. You could almost feel the TARDIS embracing the companions, new and old, gently touching and prodding… whirling about in gay delight with the lanky Doctor.

.

The Time Lord clapped his hands, plonking them down on the console with an audible thump, “On to adventure, on the count of three everyone _pull whatever you’ve got your hands on_ … who needs a countdown, THREE!” the Doctor shouted, his smile in his voice. Amy and Rory shrieked and laughed in delight… moving as one with the time-travelling machine.

For others, it was a new sensation, or one remembered from long ago…

.

As a strange whirring thumping started up and Ianto yanked on the dial he touched, simultaneously hanging on for dear life, he could practically TASTE the innuendo coming before the other man said it…

Life blurred as the TARDIS began to tumble on a journey to who-knows-where with the Doctor, his costumed companions and the man he loved, and yet the one thing that echoed out loud through the chaos was Jack’s deep baritone yelling out, “ ** _That’s what she said!_** ” 

…and Ianto found himself laughing. Everything was going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> So, when I went to post it here, I noticed how terrible my original version was... and sort of retro-fitted it with little extra bits here and there. Re-wrote it for my sanity and your reading pleasure, let me know if it turned out that way!


End file.
